Hold on: What?!?

But you read that right. Doing my tweets about interesting statistical bullets after every game, I realized that Brendan Haywood never puts up flashy stats, but he always performs at least solid, if not better. He usually is the Mavericks best rebounder on the field and is always in the Top3 or so in terms of defensive +/-. You won't notice his presence sometimes, but he is doing work night in and night out.

Let's begin with the starting units: Brendan Haywood is literally a big part of these lineups and among all teams, Dallas starting units rank 1st in the league in Efficiency Differential (+17.48), Defensive Efficiency (88.12), Defensive Rebounding Percentage (79.37%), Opponents Average 2FG Shot Distance (10.45 feet) and Opponents Assist/Turnover-Ratio (0.97). That's remarkable even without mentioning that last years starting unit also was a force defensively, but couldn't outscore anybody.

More than that, Haywood is part of the two best starting groups of the league. From all starting units throughout the league that played at least 100 Possessions together, the current lineup of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood ranks 1st in terms of EffDiff (+40.98 Points Per 100 Possessions) and the lineup the Mavericks have used in Kidd's absence consisting of Delonte West, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Brendan Haywood ranks 2nd (+35.88). Although Haywood is only a small part of what the Mavs do offensively, it cannot be denied that he surely is a silent contributor of the success these units have and had.

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With less than one month before the NBA Trade deadline for this shortened season, teams will make cost-cutting moves, financial gambles, and desperate "save-the-team" trades. The Dallas Mavericks, on the other had, made their deals rather early, with the sign and trade of Tyson Chandler to New York to again a Traded Player Exemption (TPE), which was then used to pry Lamar Odom away from the Lakers. Now, Donnie Nelson set his sights onto the 2012 NBA Free Agency. Many sports analysts claim that the 2012 NBA Free Agent signing would be akin to the 2012 NBA Free Agent bonanza, and people like Marc Stein of ESPN.com chimed in that that Dallas Mavericks are in the lead to obtain Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, or even both. With the non expiring salary of Dirk & Co., is it even possible for the Dallas Mavericks to even get one of these stars? See the number crunching after the jump.

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This is an auto-generated statistical overview of todays opponent of the Dallas Mavericks. The data is only presented for your review and apart from the glossary it features no additional comments. Please post in the comment section if you'll find any uncertainties that should be included in the glossary. Throughout the season this overview could be tweaked here and there, so stay tuned for updates! In the current form it features:

1. Overall Stats
2. Possession-Type Efficiencies
3. Players that will hurt you
4. Players that will help you
5. Lineups that will hurt you
6. Lineups that will help you
7. Shot Locations & Shot Distances
8. Full Heat-Chart

Please note that some of the data-tables don't fit into the "narrow" layout of this page. Please switch to the Wide one.

I also recommend to visit SynergySports for their preview of the two teams.

Follow @j0Shi_f

Click through to see the numbers!

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In one day the Mavericks went from "Completely healthy" to "totally f%&ked."

Actually, it's not that bad but Dallas currently only has three (THREE!) healthy guards available for Friday's game against the Sixers. Luckily, Jason Terry is expected to come back Sunday against the Knicks, which will at least give Dallas a fairly normal rotation.

But the Delonte West injury really sucks. I've pined over West before, but he's probably the Mavericks best two-way guard, bringing both excellent offensive and defensive qualities. So with him out it's time for Domonique Jones to step up, Rick Carlisle told reporters last night:

"We're going to need him," Carlisle said. "He's worked hard and this gets his feet wet for Friday."

The Mavericks, who have a full roster of 15 players, don't intend to seek veteran help at the position. They would have to release a player if they sign a free agent guard.

"We'll just have to make it work," Carlisle said. "With Kidd, we're going to have to keep his minutes reasonable. Dominique Jones is going to have to play some. Vince is going to have to get more minutes at the 2 position. We had Odom handling the ball a lot tonight. Look, we may have to be creative with our rotation."

A couple of interesting things from Carlise...

• I know it's out of necessity rather than trust, but those are confident words to Jones, someone who has floated around the D-League and the back of the bench. Jones doesn't boast the mystifying talent of Rodrigue Beaubois but I've always felt he was more NBA-ready as a backup point guard. While Beaubois wows with his natural talent and seemingly unlimited offensive capabilities, Jones just plugs away, playing sold defense and being able to find teammates at a much better rate than Beaubois. This isn't to discount Jones, who has talent, but I've just felt Jones could be a more consistent player, right now, than Beaubois.
• But, funny thing about Jones is, he can't really shoot. There's a reason Beaubois has been able to get so much more than burn than Jones – Jones just can't buy a basket. He was empty on six shots last night, displaying the same game we've seen for over a year now: He can get to the basket and free throw line, but damn, he can't make a jumper and has trouble finishing at the rim. For someone who is so good at getting to the rim, he's inability to finish there is really surprising. Luckily, Jones showed off his floor vision, which has never really deserted him. Jones should be able to hold down for at least one game with Terry out
• Also, expect to see Vince Carter's minutes maybe climb into the mid 30s and perhaps Lamar Odom's as well. If Jones isn't cutting it, don't be surprised if Carlise gets a little whacky and throws out a lineup of Odom, Carter, Marion and then two more big men. It would be absurd, but if Carlisle is really committed to keeping Kidd's minutes from going to far north of 30, it could happen, if only for a brief spell.

This is an auto-generated statistical overview of todays opponent of the Dallas Mavericks. The data is only presented for your review and apart from the glossary it features no additional comments. Please post in the comment section if you'll find any uncertainties that should be included in the glossary. Throughout the season this overview could be tweaked here and there, so stay tuned for updates! In the current form it features:

1. Overall Stats
2. Possession-Type Efficiencies
3. Players that will hurt you
4. Players that will help you
5. Lineups that will hurt you
6. Lineups that will help you
7. Shot Locations & Shot Distances
8. Full Heat-Chart

Please note that some of the data-tables don't fit into the "narrow" layout of this page. Please switch to the Wide one.

I also recommend to visit SynergySports for their preview of the two teams.

Follow @j0Shi_f

Click through to see the numbers!

Continue reading this post »

Shawn Marion is clearly important to the Dallas Mavericks

He was the team's best perimeter defender in last year's championship run, helping neutralize (or at least get in the way sometimes) of Kevin Durant, completely broke LeBron James and was wonderful on giving Jason Kidd a breather against Russell Westbrook or Dwyane Wade. This season, he's been asked to guard everyone from Durant to Chris Paul and helped keep those players under their normal averages.

After Marion limited Chris Paul to just 10 shot attempts and little impact in the Mavericks 96-92 win over the Clippers on Monday, Mark Cuban gushed about Marion's contributions to everyone and anyone. Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas has the details:

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The game last night against the Clippers was a perfect example of how a game these days normally looks like for the Dallas Mavericks. They came out strong and finished the first half with an Offensive Efficiency of 122.65 on 57.89% shooting. After the break, the magic was gone and Dirk & Co. scored 85.08 Points per 100 on 31.71% from there on.

This pattern has established throughout the season. In the last 12 games, Dallas was able to score over 100 Points per 100 Possessions in the first half every single time, but could only reach this mark in the second half three times. The chart on the right shows the Efficiency Development over the course of a game for the Mavs and it illustrates that the defense remains more or less stable throughout, but the offense takes a significant hit around halftime. Dirk, Rick Carlisle and others repeatedly said that 3rd quarter energy has been a problem along the way and the numbers certainly agree.

Despite ranking only 20th in Offensive Efficiency this season, the Mavs are one of the better first half performers in the league, ranking 6th in Efficiency Differential (+7.52) and 8th in Offensive Efficiency (108.21). They shoot 47.21% and take their average two-pointer from 8.64 feet. In second halves though, they rank 17th in Efficiency Differential (-1.06) and 28th in Offensive Efficiency (96.00). Only the Hornets and the Bobcats own a worse offense in that regard. The Mavs shooting percentage drops to 40.83% and they take 2-point shots further away from the basket (9.44 feet).

The most common explanation for this issue is fatigue. In the condensed schedule the Mavs start out hot in games, but their old legs only allow them to grind out games in the second period. What supports this conclusion is the fact, that the Mavs 3-point attempts go up as well, attempting 21.88 per 100 in the first, but 24.02 per 100 in the second half. If your offensive flow disappears, you'll be forced into more long-range shots. After the jump you'll see which players are most affected by the 2nd half drop-off so far.

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This is an auto-generated statistical overview of todays opponent of the Dallas Mavericks. The data is only presented for your review and apart from the glossary it features no additional comments. Please post in the comment section if you'll find any uncertainties that should be included in the glossary. Throughout the season this overview could be tweaked here and there, so stay tuned for updates! In the current form it features:

1. Overall Stats
2. Possession-Type Efficiencies
3. Players that will hurt you
4. Players that will help you
5. Lineups that will hurt you
6. Lineups that will help you
7. Shot Locations & Shot Distances
8. Full Heat-Chart

Please note that some of the data-tables don't fit into the "narrow" layout of this page. Please switch to the Wide one.

I also recommend to visit SynergySports for their preview of the two teams.

Follow @j0Shi_f

Click through to see the numbers!

Continue reading this post »